I think that fragrances in toilet stalls in public places including Dr. offices are just as bad. Especially for people who are sensitive to chemicals! All the advertising about spraying your furniture and house with fragrances. It's eveb in cleaning products now! Can't people see the harm this is doing to babies sleeping in a bedroom with a fragrance emitter putting out a stink!

What most of us don't realize is that one of the biggest threats to our children is the arsenal of toxic chemicals that we have in our homes.

Here are some startling statistics:
• EPA surveys find that indoor air can be 3 - 5 times more chemically polluted than outdoor air.
• After analyzing 2,983 chemicals used in personal care products, 884 were found to be toxic. (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.)
• According to the National Safety Council, more children under the age of four die of accidental poisonings at home than are accidentally killed with guns at home.
• Of chemicals commonly found in homes, 150 have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities. (Consumer Product Safety Commission)
• Women who work at home have a 54% greater risk of developing cancer than women who work outside the home?
Children are uniquely vulnerable to household toxins because of their higher metabolic rate. They require more oxygen, and they breathe in two to three times as much air, relative to body size, than adults. Additionally, children are more physically active, also increasing their breathing rate. Finally, children play on and close to the floor where many heavier pollutants settle. In short, our children are breathing in more toxins than adults.

These toxins are suspected to be a factor in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Also linked to toxins are allergies, asthma, learning difficulties, and immune system disorders.

Where are these toxins? They are in a wide variety of household and personal care products, including:
• Laundry products
• Dish washing products
• Toothpaste and mouthwash
• Deodorants
• Shampoos
• Cleaning Product and more!
What can you do? There are safer products available in some health food stores and through some Internet based companies. Some of these out-perform the grocery-store brands, and cost less. If you'd like to know more email me at WellnessAndMore@gmail.com.
Free E-Classes available

Can anyone clarify "fumes". Are these just released from PVC by heating (fire or heat/hot water hitting shower curtains, etc.) or in manufacturing as I had been told previously, and by direct touch or are phthalates released into the air to breath in "cold" use. We have been sleeping on PVC air mattresses (encased in sheets) due to a move, and I would love to know if continued use is ok as long as there is no fire and we do not have skin contact with the PVC.

Answer:
yes, the word "fume" as used in common speech, generally means the entire category of noxious gases and vapors released from an object or a procedure. More specifically, when talking about chemicals released into the air from plastic surfaces, EPA refers to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which can be are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. "VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions." from http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html

Volatile and gaseous means that these substances will travel through the air and be capable of passing through light fabric. How far each individual chemical will travel depends on the nature of the chemical.

In general, "cold use" leaching of chemical additives from plastics is detectable, whether from food-contact plastics or from other consumer products. Of course, with heating (hot water, hot air) more of these chemicals is released into the air.

Growing up on a farm I was never exposed to any phthalates. No shower curtains or new carpets and life was great. Not even in school. We had tiles and the age was somewhere in the neighborhood of about 30 years old. I remember when I purchased my first home at 27 years old. We were excited and wanted to sleep the first only we had no furniture yet. We ended up sleeping on the floor. After only a few hours in the home I had a terrible time breathing. My lungs burned like hell and the amount of air seemed to drop. Gradually I learned to just deal with it not knowing that it may have been the carpet until i read this article. Gradually I developed severe Rhinits (spelling?)I would dispise my wife everytime she changed the shower curtains because of the smell. I would get dizzy and have the same breathing problems. Gradually we replaced the carpet with wood floors only for appearance sake. In January we installed 6 PVC closets and I became very ill, the doctor said it was viral and that i should just give it time. I was getting worse. This month we bought this huge puzzle mat for the baby to crawl on. The same time the sickness intesified. Went the lung specialist this time. He said I had asthma after a breathing test by a Repireatory Therapist. Each time i went to the doctor I told of the carpet, the shower curtains, the pvc closets and was always told i just got what was going around. Hmmm, seems to me phthaltes would have been the obvious answer and that maybe i needed checked better so that i could have removed that from my life.